Latest Business News

Facebook stock dropped more than 5% at the start of the trading day, dragging the Nasdaq along with it.
Shares had dipped below $175 at the end of the first hour of the session. That’s their lowest level since last October.
The social network’s decline has dragged the Nasdaq down more than 1% thus far, and the Dow 30 and S&P 500 are also in red numbers.
The Facebook selloff was prompted by uncertainty about the company in light of the damaging news over the weekend about… Read

Time’s Up, the defense fund and pressure group targeting sexual harassment, has penned an open letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo calling for an investigation into the state’s handling of historical sexual harassment and assault allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein.
In the letter, which was published in The Cut, Time’s Up calls on Cuomo to “launch an independent investigation of the New York County District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, and the office of the… Read

SXSW came to an end on Sunday and although the tech-film-music confab was a celebration of innovation and the arts, the city of Austin was put on high alert during the fest after a string of bomb scares. The latest explosion was on Sunday night in the southwestern part of the city.
The explosion occurred shortly after authorities made a plea to the attackers on television to come forward with the “message” behind the bombings. Two men sustained non-life threatening… Read

Denzel Washington, about to hit the Broadway stage in George C. Wolfe’s production of The Iceman Cometh, will receive New Dramatists’ 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award, an honor that’s previously gone to such stage artists as Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Edward Albee, Meryl Streep and Stephen Sondheim, among others.
The award will be presented to the Oscar- and Tony-winning actor at New Dramatists’ 69th Annual Spring Luncheon tribute on May 15 in New York.
“Mr… Read

Facing almost certain firing, Jon Hendry, the longtime business agent of IATSE Local 480 in Santa Fe, has resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. News of his resignation came today at a raucous membership meeting, which had been called to consider his ouster. The local’s president, Doug Acton, will serve as acting business agent.
“Everyone is very happy,” said a member who attended the meeting. “Good things are going to happen now that he’s gone.”
Once one of the… Read

Emmy-nominated cinematographer Michael Gershman died on March 10 at his home in Malibu. The cause of his death has yet to be reported. He was 73.
Known for his work on the Sarah Michelle Gellar-fronted cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Crossing Jordan, Gershman worked under the Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a camera assistant on numerous iconic films from the ’70s and ’80s, including The Deer Hunter, The Rose, Heaven’s Gate and Blow Out…Read

Yann Arnaud, a longtime aerialist for Cirque Du Soleil, died after injuries sustained Saturday night in a fall during a performance of Volta in Tampa, Fla.
The company’s official Twitter handle acknowledged Arnaud’s death in a Twitter post, calling the fall “a tragic accident.” Arnaud, a 15-year Cirque veteran, fell to the stage and emergency crews immediately rushed to administer treatment. He was then taken to an area hospital, the company said, where he later… Read

Desilu Studios, the production entity behind projects like V: The Movie, is exploring a potential public offering in the U.S. as part of its acquisition of Israeli tech company Vonetize.
Execs at Desilu said Friday they had acquired a controlling stake in Vonetize, which provides streaming technology for major studios as well as distribution, security and monetization. News of the transaction sent Vonetize shares zooming up 83% on Sunday on the Tel Aviv stock exchange… Read

UPDATE: Trevor Weldon Ingram has been arrested by the Austin Police Department with felony charges of making a terror threat. According to the Austin Chronicle, Ingram allegedly emailed Live Nation Music on Saturday afternoon saying that there was a bomb planted at near Fair Market in Austin, the event venue where The Roots were scheduled to perform.
A city statement made late last night (see below) announced Ingram’s arrest and gave details about the incident. Upon the… Read

Animal Kingdom star Ellen Barkin took to Twitter today in the wake of Terry Gilliam’s comments on the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement saying, “My hard won advice: never get into an elevator alone with [Terry Gilliam].” The Emmy-award winning actress didn’t expand on her tweet, but it certainly raised some eyebrows in the Twitterverse.
This is not the first time Barkin has come forward about Gilliam. Earlier this year, she said, “Oh [Terry Gilliam], why couldn't you keep… Read

A week after announcing on Real Time with Bill Maher that she would be resuming U.S. touring, comedian-provocateur Kathy Griffin told fans today that her Carnegie Hall show in New York nearly sold out in the first 24 hours they were on sale.
Griffin announced an eight-stop tour of North America last week, a list of dates that does not include the Carnegie Hall visit and another one to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
“I’m in shock,” she said on Twitter. “For most of… Read

UPDATED with Cambridge Analytica repsponse: Cambridge Analytica has gone on a Twitter blitz in response to allegations it manipulated purloined Facebook user data while working as a consultant to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Eight of the tweets went out in a single storm; others were responses to individual queries from journalists and others. Among other claims, the company said it did not harvest data from Facebook and is in compliance with the social… Read